Pete Rose tells baseball players to 'come clean'

Pete Rose, banned by Major League Baseball for betting on games while managing the Reds, has some advice for any current players that may have used performance-enhancing drugs in the past: come clean. (Peter Morgan/Reuters/Files)

QMI Agency

Already serving a lifetime ban from Major League Baseball, Pete Rose offered up this tidbit to 13 major leaguers caught up in the league’s most recent scandal: “Don’t do like I did.”

Commenting on the league's Biogenesis investigation, the 72-year-old Rose is telling players embroiled in latest PED dilemma to do the opposite of what he and Milwaukee Brewers star Ryan Braun did prior to being suspended for the remainder of the 2013 season.

"We have to get these people to understand that if you make mistakes, people will forgive you if you come forward," Rose told USA Today Sports. "Don't do like I did. Don't do like [Ryan] Braun did. Don't do like A-Rod did."

MLB suspended New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez through the 2014 season on Monday for his alleged relationship with the south Florida anti-aging clinic.

"I wish I had come forward a long time ago,” said Rose, who once vehemently refuted claims he gambled on baseball. “Some guys came forward, like (Jason) Giambi, like (Andy) Pettitte. And they went on with their lives. They're playing and they're making good money, and there's no shadow upon them right now."

Rose received a lifetime ban from MLB in 1989 for gambling on games while managing the Cincinnati Reds.

The game's all-time hits leader, Rose still claims he only betted on the Reds to win.